The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to a method for assembling a circuit carrier with a housing component and, more specifically, to an optical unit for emitting and/or receiving radiation that is fabricated using this particular method of assembling and aligning the circuit carrier with the housing component.
When assembling electronic components, they are usually mounted on some sort of circuit carrier, and the circuit carrier has to be mounted at or within a mechanical part that forms a housing or is a part thereof. In a plurality of application fields, for instance when assembling optoelectronic components, such as light emitting diodes (LED) or light receiving components, such as photo diodes, a particularly accurate positioning of the electronic component with respect to the housing or another mechanical or optical part, for example, lenses and apertures, or an opening of the housing, has to be achieved. Usually, this alignment is either done by means of some mechanical fitting or by providing a fiducial on a printed circuit board (PCB) which is optically evaluated by means of an automatic assembly device. The fiducial is for instance formed by a structure, like a cross, a circle, or the like, provided in the metallization layer of the circuit carrier. The alignment of the PCB within the housing is then achieved by means of mechanical positioning aids, for example, openings. Hence, the tolerances of two alignment steps have to be taken into account.
However, in particular for optoelectronic applications, there is still a need of providing an improved alignment method that leads to a higher accuracy of the positioning between the housing component and the electronic component and furthermore can be performed in a more cost-effective and simple way.